Enjoying and sharing the simple pleasures of rural living

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Monthly Archives: August 2012

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Rusty trucks, tractors, and cars- oh my ! We do so LOVE rust ! There have been many occasions where Carmen and I have gone knee deep in the weeds with only our cameras in hand, ignoring any notion of snakes and chiggers just to sneak a peek at some rusty, dusty, relics. It’s a treasure hunt – the thrill of finding what others have long since forgotten. And although in most cases we simple capture the treasure with the click of our camera, there have been some incidences where we’ve hauled our rusty treasure home (along with a little poison ivy), giddy with the all the possibilities. And even though both our husbands just shake their heads at our junkin’ antics, we will continue to run footloose and fancy free into the rusty wilds !

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To me there are certain signatures of summer; fireflies, fireworks, and 31 flavors… of ice cream that is! So when I found Carl’s Ice Cream while antiquing in Historic Fredericksburg you can imagine my delight.

Carl’s is an old-fashioned ice cream stand. No tables, no booths there. It’s all about the window, and I don’t mean the drive-thru. Nope, I mean park your car and walk up to the window…just like they did in 1947, when Carl’s first opened, some 65 yrs. ago.

Now, if you are looking for fancy, Carl’s is not the place for you (they only serve 3 flavors – chocolate, vanilla & strawberry), but if you are looking for a little piece of nostalgia – you can’t beat it! In fact, Carl’s is on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you go, expect lines, because it’s the pride & joy of Fredericksburg! But no worries, thanks to the clerks that are both fast and friendly the line moves quickly. And even though you only have 3 flavor choices, they can serve them up to you in a cone, a cup, a malt, a shake or a sundae. All prepared from the electro-freeze machines from the forties.

More than anything, Carl’s serves up a piece of Americana. You can tell that just as soon as you drive up and see the Art Deco facade – oh how I LOVE the neon lights!!

So the next time you take a trip down memory lane I would highly recommend making a detour by Carl’s. Just remember to bring CASH – true to its old school ways Carl’s doesn’t accept checks or credit cards.

Carl’s Ice Cream is located at 2200 Princess Anne St. Fredericksburg, Va.

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Come and take a look-see at our new chicken coop, The Cluckin’ Cottage! I’d been wanting chickens for a couple of years and when my youngest daughter picked chickens as her 4H “project”, my dream of chicken rearin’ became a reality. My hubby (along with our dads) got to work on buildin’ the finest coop ever. At the same time, we were having a facelift done to our own Humble Cottage, and we had some porch trim and columns removed and replaced. Instead of tossing ’em, these worked perfectly as accents on The Cluckin’ Cottage, especially when painted white against the aqua walls of the coop. I love the little red shutters that the hubster made along with the window that came from the Humble Cottage’s kitchen. The window box was used in my oldest daughter’s nursery (13 years ago) and I loved the idea of using it on the coop. The screened door came from my parents’ river house (and then it was used as the sign for an antique booth that my mom and I had for awhile, called “The Porch”). The eggs on the egg doors were painted by my youngest daughter, as well as the wooden chicken on the small inside coop door. The tin roof was leftover from my parents having their roof replaced, and the weather vane was from a cute shop near our river houses. The trim around the top was our old window trim. I love all of the upcycling on The Cluckin’ Cottage… it makes it even more fun! I have a few more things to add, but wanted to go ahead and share what we’ve done so far 🙂 I’m looking for a vintage sign of some sort to go over the egg doors…hmmmmmmmmm.

hugs,
Carmen

P.S. You’ll have to wait for another post to get to know the chickens…both Amy’s and mine 🙂